Group Home Accused of Wrongful Death

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (CN) – Employees of Mountain View Ranch Residential Care beat a man to death while he was restrained, his family claims in Kern County Court. The Lynch family sued Nankil Enterprises dba Mountain View Ranch Residential Care, and Kern Regional Center, alleging wrongful death, elder abuse, false imprisonment and assault and battery of the late Joseph Adam Lynch, a dependent adult. The lead plaintiff, Etta Mae Lynch, is his grandmother. Other plaintiffs include his mother, sister and brother. The ABC-TV Bakersfield station, KCSO, reported on Sept. 24 that Joseph Adam Lynch, 27, died of positional asphyxia in early July after allegedly assaulting a staff member at a group home. In the lawsuit, Lynch’s family claims that staff members “assaulted, battered, struck, kicked, punched, kneed, choked and/or negligently touched, and used excessive, and cumulatively or in some times deadly force upon decedent without adequate cause, reason or justification.” Other staff members are accused of negligently failing to intervene. The Lynch family is represented by Matthew Clark, with Chain, Cohn & Stiles. The six causes of action include elder abuse, under the Welfare & Institutions Code, though the late Lynch was 27. The body of the lawsuit accuses the defendants of abuse of a dependent adult.